The invention relates, according to the precharacterizing clause of the independent claim 1, to a cleaning device, especially for the cleaning of swimming pools, having a housing and having at least one intake aperture arranged on the base of the housing through which, by means of a pump, a liquid to be cleaned can be conveyed into an inner chamber at least partially enclosed by the housing by a filter which can be arranged in this inner chamber, in order to separate a contamination-exposed part from a clean part of the inner chamber, and through an outlet aperture.
For the cleaning of large liquid containers, especially water-filled swimming pools, it is known to employ cleaning devices with which the cleaning of the pool bottom and, in some cases, the pool walls can be carried out. In such cases, the maintenance of the device, to the extent that the maintenance is necessary at all, is advantageously undertaken from outside the pool of water. Cleaning devices are also known which are designed to be self-propelled and are either controlled by an operative (for example as in EP-A-0 314 259) or moved at random so that essentially the whole bottom of the swimming pool is covered (for example, as in U.S Pat. No. 4,168,557). These cleaning devices, for their movement under water, have wheels which are driven via an electric motor. It is also known to make use of a flow of water caused by an external pump to drive the cleaning device also (for example, as is EP-A-0 468 876). The cleaning device may also be equipped with sensors which, as a result of mechanical contact taking place with a pool wall, effect a change of direction of the cleaning device, so that automatic and complete cleaning of the pool bottom is achieved (for example, as in the same Patent Applicant""s EP-A-0 483 470).
In addition to the efficiency of a cleaning device, user-friendly servicing, and in particular, the simple cleaning and replaceability of the filter are of great value. Thus, for example, in the case of the device described in EP-A-0 314 259 and U.S Pat. No. 4,168,557, it is necessary to remove the bottom of the device in order to extract the filter bag. For the removal of the bottom, the cleaning device has to be inclined or tilted to the side, in which case the danger always exists of damage to the control cable or electrical cable leading to the device.
In the case of EP-A-0 468 876, first, no electrical cables exist; the reason for this is the special drive, to which reference has already been made. Secondly, the lateral pulling-out is described of a part of the housing to which the filter is connected. For cleaning, this part of the housing is designed to be open on two sides; this means, however, that, in contrast to the two cleaning devices described above (EP-A-0 314 259 and U.S Pat. No. 4,168,557), a part of the device has inner surfaces which are exposed to contamination and also have to be cleaned. Again, however, an inclination of the device to the side is necessary for the cleaning and, especially, visual inspection of these inner surfaces.
The eddy wheel serving as a pump in EP-A-0 483 470 isxe2x80x94in contrast to all other cited devicesxe2x80x94exposed to contamination and has to be cleaned from time to time, which may also be regarded as a disadvantage.
The object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning device, especially for the cleaning of swimming pools, in which the filter can be exchanged and/or all contamination-exposed parts of the cleaning unit can be cleaned without its being necessary to raise or tilt the device, and in which no parts of the pump come into contact with contaminated liquid.
This object is achieved by the provision of a cleaning device, especially for the cleaning of swimming pools, in accordance with the features of the independent claim 1. This cleaning device comprises a housing and at least one intake aperture arranged on the base of the housing through which, by means of a pump, a liquid to be cleaned can be conveyed into an inner chamber at least partially enclosed by the housing by a filter which can be arranged in this inner chamber, in order to separate a contamination-exposed part from a clean part of the inner chamber, and through an outlet aperture, and which is characterized in that the filter lies sealingly on the bottom surface of the inner chamber and an underside of a cover which can be arranged over the inner chamber. Preferred developments of the cleaning device according to the invention are apparent from the dependent claims.